Beckum in Florida for Home Depot show
December 05, 2007 | Football
Junior Travis Beckum, a finalist for the John Mackey Award and a consensus first-team All-Big Ten selection, is here at Disney's Boardwalk Resort waiting to participate in the Home Depot College Football Awards show to be televised live on ESPN Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CST.
Beckum is the third Badger in four years to enjoy the opportunity to rub elbows with other top players and coaches in college football at this event. DL Erasmus James (2004) and OL Joe Thomas (2006) are the Badgers' other recent participants in this show.
Beckum leads the nation's tight ends with 960 receiving yards. His 73 receptions are just two shy of tying WR Lee Evans' school record of 75.
Beckum left snowy Madison Wednesday morning, caught a connection in snowy Chicago and arrived in Orlando around 2 p.m. The weather here' Sunny and 75.
Wednesday evening included a dinner reception at the ESPN Club on the Boardwalk for the student-athletes and their invited guests. It's a casual event designed to let people visit, meet other players and just relax a bit. Travis joined Missouri's Chase Daniels, Arkansas' Darren McFadden, Florida's Tim Tebow and Michigan's Mario Manningham among the group of players who did an event_id=18389"> --> online chat with ESPN.com after dinner.
The main event for Beckum will start on Thursday afternoon. A players-only dinner starts things off before they are escorted to the Atlantic Dance Hall near the hotel so they can 'walk the red carpet' and get the show going at 6:30 CST.
The show will be hosted by ESPN's College Gameday crew of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso.
